An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.1 struck Japan's Kumamoto prefecture on Tuesday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
The Japanese government issued emergency earthquake warnings for Kumamoto, Nagasaki, Kagoshima, Fukuoka, Saga, Oita, and Miyazaki prefectures, all on Japan's southern island of Kyushu.
"We have already been informed that people have been injured," Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said, speaking to reporters at her office in Tokyo.
"Power outages and fires have occurred in some areas, and there has also been damage to roads and bridges and the collapse of buildings. Above all, I ask everyone to take action to protect themselves, including evacuating to a safe location."
Public broadcaster NHK showed several buildings on fire or collapsed, large cracks along roads, including an elevated highway, and a derailed goods train. More than 150,000 people were instructed to go to evacuation centers, the disaster management agency said.
Fires reported in some of Japan's largest companies, Tsunami warning dismissed
TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker, evacuated workers from its plant in the area as a precaution, a spokesperson for the firm said.
A spokesperson for electronics firm Sony, which also has a plant there, said it was checking the situation.
Residents in the areas that felt the biggest tremors must beware of further strong quakes for about a week as well as the risk of landslides, an official for the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said.
A tsunami warning for a 1-meter (3.28 ft) wave was initially issued after the earthquake, with the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) later saying that the threat had already passed.
The PTWC also said that there was no risk of a tsunami in Hawaii and American Samoa following the earthquake.
Kyushu Electric Power said there were no reports of irregularities at its Sendai and Genkai nuclear power stations after the earthquake.
The Japanese government issued emergency earthquake warnings for Kumamoto, Nagasaki, Kagoshima, Fukuoka, Saga, Oita, and Miyazaki prefectures, all on Japan's southern Kyushu island. The JMA also initially issued a tsunami warning for a wave measuring 1 m (3.28 feet) but later lifted it.
Japan is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries, with a tremor occurring at least every five minutes. Located along the "Ring of Fire" of volcanoes and oceanic trenches partly encircling the Pacific Basin, Japan accounts for about 20% of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6.0 or more.
Kyushu Electric Power said about 40,000 homes had lost power as a result of the latest quake, while railway company JR Kyushu said that it had suspended services, including its high-speed bullet trains. Kumamoto airport also shut its runway, as airlines diverted and canceled flights.
Telecoms operators KDDI and Docomo said there was disruption to their mobile phone services due to power shortages and transmission-line failures.
There were no irregularities reported at the nuclear power stations in the area, Japan's nuclear regulation authority said.
A massive earthquake in Kumamoto 10 years ago killed 275 people and injured a further 2,739, according to an official count, and damaged thousands of buildings including the city's castle, a top tourist site.
Second large-scale earthquake that hits Japan in 2026
Tuesday's earthquake represents the second disaster of its kind to strike Japan this year, with a 7.5-magnitude event recorded off the coast of the islands, triggering tsunami alerts back in April.
In that instance, authorities urged residents to stay away from coastal areas where tsunami waves of up to 3 meters (9.84 ft) were expected.
The tremor had an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean and was 10 km deep, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. The biggest waves were expected in the prefectures of Iwate, Aomori, and Hokkaido, authorities said.
The quake measured an 'upper 5' on Japan's seismic intensity scale - strong enough to make it difficult for people to move around. In many cases, unreinforced concrete-block walls collapse.
Japan is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries, with a tremor occurring at least every five minutes. Located along the "Ring of Fire" of volcanoes and oceanic trenches that partly encircles the Pacific Basin, Japan accounts for about 20% of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6.0 or greater.
There are no nuclear power plants currently in operation in the Hokkaido and Tohoku regions, but Hokkaido Electric Power Co and Tohoku Electric Power Co have several shut-down nuclear power plants there.
This is a developing story.
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